
66
Mo n d a y
February 20
A Statement on Creation Care
How, then, do Seventh-day Adventists view the question of the envi-
ronment? How do we get involved and yet seek to keep a right balance?
Below is an official statement, voted by the church leadership back in
1995.
“Seventh-day Adventists believe that humankind was created in the
image of God, thus representing God as His stewards, to rule the natural
environment in a faithful and fruitful way.
“Unfortunately, corruption and exploitation have been brought into the
management of the human domain of responsibility. Increasingly men
and women have been involved in a megalomaniacal destruction of the
earth’s resources, resulting in widespread suffering, environmental disar-
ray, and the threat of climate change. While scientific research needs to
continue, it is clear from the accumulated evidence that the increasing
emission of destructive gasses, the depletion of the protective mantle of
ozone, the massive destruction of the American forests, and the so-called
greenhouse effect, are all threatening the earth’s ecosystem.
“These problems are largely due to human selfishness and the egocen-
tric pursuit of getting more and more through ever-increasing production,
unlimited consumption and depletion of nonrenewable resources. The
ecological crisis is rooted in humankind’s greed and refusal to practice
good and faithful stewardship within the divine boundaries of creation.
“Seventh-day Adventists advocate a simple, wholesome lifestyle,
where people do not step on the treadmill of unbridled consumerism,
goods-getting, and production of waste. We call for respect of creation,
restraint in the use of the world’s resources, reevaluation of one’s
needs, and reaffirmation of the dignity of created life.”—Adventist
Administrative Committee (ADCOM), released at General Conference
Session in Utrecht, the Netherlands, June 29–July 8, 1995.
Look
up the following texts. How do they help us to understand the
reasoning behind this church statement? Gen. 1:1, 26; 9:7; Pss.
24:1; 100; James 5:1, 2, 4, 5; Heb. 1:3.
If anything, as Christians who believe that this world and the life and
resources on it are gifts from God, we should be at the forefront of seek-
ing to take care of it. If we believed that the earth is just a chance cre-
ation, the product of cold, uncaring forces, we could almost be excused
in seeking to exploit it to our own ends. When, though, we understand
this world as something that God created and sustains, it’s hard to see
how we could do anything other than be responsible stewards of it.
How might your own selfishness impact how you treat the envi-
ronment? And what’s wrong with the attitude that says, “Well,
I’m only one person, so what does it matter?”